
	Platform Xbox 360 Genre Sports Publisher Sega Developer Eurocom ESRB E (Everyone) Released January 15, 2010

- Looks really good - No commentary - 13 different events and tiers of extra challenges

- Speed skating is possibly the most aggravating game I've ever played - A few more events would have been nice

Review: NCAA Basketball 10 (360) Review: Athens 2005 (PS2) Review: New International Track & Field (DS)
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Vancouver 2010

Score: 7.5 / 10

While not every Winter Olympic sport is represented in Sega's Vancouver 2010, like Biathlon, the list is long enough to offer something for every fan of winter sports and the game simple enough for pretty much anyone can pick up a controller and figure it out. And for those that can't just pick-up and play, the snappy tutorials should be enough to bring them up to speed.

Developer Eurocom has included Aerials, Ski Cross, Luge Singles, Skeleton, Two-Man Bobsleigh, Parallel Giant Slalom, Snowboard Cross, Giant Slalom, Downhill, Super G and Ski Jumping. Playing through any of these events can be very

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enjoyable. Trying to squeeze out a bit more speed on the turns on the bobsleigh run, just staying on the slope during the Super G events, and grabbing just a little more distance on the Ski Jump takes concentration and some practice, especially if you want the Gold Medal (and the Achievement).

Short-track Speed Skating though... It's

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hard to describe without peppering the remainder of the review with razor blades of profanity. While the other events are a lot fun -- even without ragdoll physics to replicate the horrific wipeouts -- short-track speed skating is a race to frustration. In the face. Like a brick. To make your skater move you have to alternately press the right and left triggers and control your direction with the left stick. Somehow actually making this happen is nigh impossible, especially on the freakin' corners -- that is to say, all the time on the short-track! If that had been dropped and Biathlon swapped in, it wouldn't have been missed!

Each event can be taken separately and re-played to your hearts content but I really liked the the extra challenges. There are three separate tiers and the included events get slightly tweaked to add some kind of goal or requirement to keep going, like smashing snowmen to add a few seconds to the countdown clock or hitting a specific landing zone. The kids like this a lot more because there's some comedy to be had.

The sights and sounds of Vancouver 2010 are great and I like the fact there's zero commentary to accompany what's happening on-screen. I played each event dozens of times so the fact I don't have to hear some clipped commentary saves me from having to write, "repetitive commentary." The ambient sound is enough.

Olympic fever has really hit a fever pitch here in Vancouver just days before the official start of the games, which is probably why I've seen so very few copies of Vancouver 2010 on store shelves. (And conversations with some managers tend to confirm that.) People want to play so it's fortunate they'll be playing a good game.

- Aaron Simmer

(February 11, 2010)